What happened to funk?

[ksandvik]

Trust this black guy, you don't NEED a black member to get that kind of vibe going. Of course, that sound started in black culture but it can definitely be found elsewhere. That said, I don't doubt that more black folks on the scene might change that.

Yes, I also found the earlier statement very narrow-minded.

 

[Kwesi]

I won't deny that he has a point though. There are certain styles of music that your much more likely to hear coming from black artists than than any other (the same can be said of just about any ethnicity) but in this day and age, funk is not one of those genres. Had he been referring to neo-soul, newjack swing (this is a genre that pretty much died with Michael Jackson, unfortunately), orR&B both new school and old I would have agreed.

 

[ksandvik]

Most of the interesting r&b/soul et rest seem to have been produced by white folks in London the last 10+ years. Actually a mixture of white, black, red and yellow folks.

 

[Kwesi]

I never said it couldn't be . Though I can't speak for "most" in any direction. For the sake of curiosity, any R&B artists you'd recommend that you'd seen coming out of Europe?

 

[BassistDale]

dumpstaphunk, orgone, funk n stein the band, many others.

there is a HUGE live funk scene. it's pretty damn alive in my oppinion.

+1

 

[hensonbass]

Anyone remember Van Hunt?

 

[bass12]

I never said it couldn't be . Though I can't speak for "most" in any direction. For the sake of curiosity, any R&B artists you'd recommend that you'd seen coming out of Europe?

New or old? Check out a label called Big Cheese Records (from France). Britain has long been producing artists who could be classified as R&B (Omar and Jhelisa are two that immediately come to mind).

Here ya go:

 

[ZedZed]

If you're looking for the old 70's 80's funk you need to broaden your perspective to see how it is incorporated into music today, in some cases, such as Chromeo, quite obviously. They are awesome:

 

[cnltb]

If you're looking at dominant styles of music then no, the same cannot be said about any and all kinds of music. Without funk there would be no hip-hop, no house, no techno - and all of those styles have had a major impact on popular music, not just in North America but globally.

I'd be real careful here as the importance of one singly style of music in terms of it's influence on others is quite easily overstated.
I never denied the influence of funk on other styles of music.
And...'house' a dominant style?
In the 80's maybe.


But all that doesn't matter anyways I recon.

 

[Kwesi]

Funk is not the only thing that has had an impact on hip hop and techno/house since everything influences everything.
And...'house' a dominant style?
In the 80's maybe.


But all that doesn't matter anyways I recon.

House is HUGE right now. Seriously. Take a listen to most Lady Gaga, some Katy Perry, some Britney Spears a bit of Rihanna and it's all right there. A lot of big pop artists want club hits. Easiest way to pull that off outside of rap? House. And me be me, I love it all .

 

[Kwesi]

New or old? Check out a label called Big Cheese Records (from France). Britain has long been producing artists who could be classified as R&B (Omar and Jhelisa are two that immediately come to mind).

Here ya go:

Another Chromero fan? HIGH FIVE!

 

[cnltb]

House is HUGE right now. Seriously. Take a listen to most Lady Gaga, some Katy Perry, some Britney Spears a bit of Rihanna and it's all right there. A lot of big pop artists want club hits. Easiest way to pull that off outside of rap? House. And me be me, I love it all .

You are talking about people here that rely quite heavily on other peoples work, and since a certain retro thing seems to make the rounds yet again, it is hardly surprising that things are coming back.
I'd be interested to see someone , using the tools and devices and elements from the things you mention and really do something worthwhile and interesting with them( If you know anyone, I'd love to check them out!).
Just sampling stuff as happens a lot these days is quite pathetic I think
I think all four are quite irrelevant and won't be heard off in a couple years time...unless they have a psycho fit, kiss madonna on TV , strip off or go out looking like they are on the way to a fancy dress party, or have a public break up after ten minutes of marriage, or maybe get a spot on something like x-factor or any one of the millions of 'talent shows'.( I am not saying that they are not good/decent/passable/lucky singers, by the way! )

 

[faulknersj]

1) the Red Hot Chili Peppers are a rock band with a smattering of funk. They are not a funk band.... Not even close. 2) have you heard of Daptone records? Hsve you heard LeeFields album 'My World' where his soulful vocals are backed by the Menahan Street band? Have u gobe back and listen to all of the JB's stuff from tje 60's and 70's? Maceo and the JB's? Bobby Bird? Fred Wesley and the JB's?? The Nite Liters? Want funk? Look up all these Cats.

 

[Kwesi]

You are talking about people here that rely quite heavily on other peoples work, and since a certain retro thing seems to make the rounds yet again, it is hardly surprising that things are coming back.
I'd be interested to see someone , using the tools and devices and elements from the things you mention and really do something worthwhile and interesting with them( If you know anyone, I'd love to check them out!).
Just sampling stuff as happens a lot these days is quite pathetic I think
I think all four are quite irrelevant and won't be heard off in a couple years time...unless they have a psycho fit, kiss madonna on TV , strip off or go out looking like they are on the way to a fancy dress party, or have a public break up after ten minutes of marriage, or maybe get a spot on something like x-factor or any one of the millions of 'talent shows'.( I am not saying that they are not good/decent/passable/lucky singers, by the way! )

Yea, sampling does happen a ton but the majority of it seems to be limited to newer US R&B and hip-hop for now. With the exception of a few Rihanna tunes, all the stuff those girls do is original. I'm pretty big on house in and outside of the mainstream so I'm pretty easy to please, haha.

 

[cnltb]

With the exception of a few Rihanna tunes, all the stuff those girls do is original.

I am not talking about cover versions, so I disagree, but that's alright.

 

[kevmoga]

Funny that no one has made the connection that many of the contemporary examples of serious funk are from New Orleans or have strong New Orleans connections.......Trombone Shorty, Dumpstaphunk, Papa Grows Funk, Galactic, etc. just to skim the surface. In fact if you look back through the decades funk of various flavors has always had a home there and is alive and well in the Big Easy today. My $.02.

 

[Tupac]

This infuriates me beyond belief

As said in here, they were never a funk band, but they were largely funk influenced. Typically the people who deny it just aren't familiar with their discography. There's of funk in this and this.

 

[DWBass]

It's still very much it's own thing, we just see less of it as it's own thing.

I agree and I meant to add this in my statement.

 

[vin*tone]

Cookin on 3 Burners.
Trust me - this vid is a crack up...

 

[KCLRbass]

I was a senior in high school when Rapper's Delight blew up. Two turntables and a microphone is what happened. Count up the number of mouths to feed represented by these bands and how expensive it would be to go on the road.

And with strings or synths providing a pad suddenly you did not need the Brecker Brothers, EWF or Tower of Power Horns....providing hits on the one

First of all, MAN you guys stay up late!

Second there are some points here that hit home for me. To my taste, there's no excellent funk music that's made without a huge dose of musical maturity/patience/sensitivity. I've got 7 guys in my band (and sometimes 2 gals, too). Every single one of them (with the exception of me and my pimpin day job) is an in-demand pro. Combine that with the fact that a few of us graduated from our 20s a while back and you've got a really difficult product to put on the road without a ton of entrepreneurial drive and business acumen (which we're working on).

BUT that neither encourages nor discourages us to incorporate samples, electronic elements, digital editing techniques, etc. into our music. To those of us truly dedicated to a particular musical vision (whatever that might be), we use all of the tools at our disposal. In our case, we have a horn section, but would definitely not be against using horn samples, or even sampling our own horns. In fact, we're so strongly influenced by hip hop and electronic music that we actively STRIVE to mimic sounds that we love.

What am I getting at? I'm almost completely in agreement with Kwesi:

I've got to disagree that funk has become a subset of other genres. It's still very much it's own thing, we just see less of it as it's own thing.

I maybe have a more liberal definition of funk than most, but I see tons of (mostly boring, sadly) independent funk bands come and go in Toronto. There are many folks still trying to make a go at it just because they love it. I think, to Jhengsman's point, a lot of these bands fail because funk is HARD. I don't mean hard to play; I mean hard to write/eat/breathe/master so that you can let it go and turn it into something new. It's taken me and my bandleader KC more than 10 years to get where we are now, and there's still no light at the end of the tunnel.